Quotes about Democracy
Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible people have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Democracy as a political system existed in some Greek city-states, notably Athens following a popular uprising in 508 BC.
Here is a list of famous quotes about democracy:
A modern war in a democracy
A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy.
American democracy
American democracy must be a failure because it places the supreme authority in the hands of the poorest and most ignorant part of the society.
Argument against democracy
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
Winston Churchill | politics
As I would not be a slave
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
Abraham Lincoln | politics
Democracy is worth dying for
Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.
Democracy means…
Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
Oscar Wilde | politics
Dictatorship
Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.
Plato | politics
Government is ourselves
Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.
Franklin D. Roosevelt | politics
I dislike democracy
The more I see of democracy the more I dislike it. It just brings everything down to the mere vulgar level of wages and prices, electric light and water closets, and nothing else.
In a democracy
In a democracy, the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.
Liberty and equality
If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.
Quite fair
In a democracy, someone who fails to get elected to office can always console himself with the thought that there was something not quite fair about it.
Safeguard of Democracy
Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.
Franklin D. Roosevelt | politics
The ignorance
The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.
The spirit of democracy
The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.
Unpopular in prison
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.
Winston Churchill | politics
What difference does it make?
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
What is democracy
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
Who rules
Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.
Comprehension
Based on the quotes above, are these statements true or false?
- Aldous Huxley argues that a democracy well-prepared for modern war must necessarily cease to be democratic. (True)
- According to Churchill, engaging in conversation with an ordinary voter might lead one to question the merits of democracy. (True)
- Oscar Wilde suggests that democracy is essentially the act of the people oppressing themselves for their own sake. (True)
- Plato implies that dictatorship emerges organically from democracy, and the most severe oppression and enslavement stem from excessive liberty. (True)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt believed that uneducated individuals could potentially endanger democracy. (True)
- Ronald Reagan suggests that democracy can survive without the presence of God (False)
More about democratic elections here.
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